What kinds of questions would you ask yourself and search yourself to find out if you are otherkin? What are the kinds of things you would need to know about yourself?

Make a list

• What makes you think you might be?
• What makes you think you might not be?

Not all humans are like the ones you live with or near. There is a vast range of perspectives, abilities and cultures. Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you are different from your neighbours, you are different from everyone.

Read about human cultures, mythologies, psychology, philosophy and religion. You might find that you are not so strange after all, or perhaps that you really are. Don't limit yourself to a subset of human experiences - you might find something that resonates in Sudanese culture or the myths of the Himalayas. [Any specific cultures that may resonate with particular types of otherkin?]

Check the mundane explanations first - burning in the sun might be a medical condition not a sign of vampirism. [It would be useful to have descriptions of specific conditions that are similar to particular otherkin traits]

Look into other possibilities

A number of other things can produce similar effect to what you might think of as indications of being otherkin:

• Totems
• Associations with deities
• Spirit guides
• Reincarnation from different human cultures

[This could be expanded on a lot. Where's the overlap, how do you tell one from another?]

Memories

Can you tell the difference between memories of events and memories of dreams? What about interpreting your memories based on your current environment, or filling in the blanks from imagination, experience, books or movies?

[Suggestions on how to do so would be useful here. Recommended reading?]

Family History

Research your own family stories. Are there rumours about Weird Uncle Phil who always knew when you'd call, or Great Aunt Joan who walked out of the forest one day and no one knows where she came from? (Even if you don't find anything strange, learning about your family can be interesting).

Meet other people

Sometimes it's like art: you know it when you see it. (A lot of elves seem to be like this, there's a level of recognition when they meet each other).

It lets you do a "compare and contrast". If someone is or isn't like you, you have something to indicate what the differences are.

You get to pick up reference points for how the community uses words "these people all use 'pixie' as a label, so that fissle I feel that's different from other people here is 'pixiness'".

Read!

• Myths from where you grew up.
• Myths from where your ancestors are from.
• Read sources where possible, not (just) modern fantasy writers. A lot of the older stories are darker or less black and white.

[Suggestions? Links to online resources? Specific books? Things added should be crosslinked to RecommendedReading?, etc]